Wall Street concluded last week on a high note as the stock market witnessed positive developments, driven by an impressive January jobs report and stellar earnings reports from key players in the tech industry.
The S&P 500 Index hit a new all-time high on Friday. The Nasdaq Composite, known for its tech-heavy composition, also soared. The standout moment of the week was the release of the January jobs report.
Nonfarm payrolls expanded by 353,000 for the month, better than the Dow Jones estimate of 185,000, as quoted on CNBC. The unemployment rate stayed at 3.7% versus the estimate of 3.8%. Despite the Federal Reserve's ongoing rate-hiking campaign, the job market displayed resilience.
Fed Rate Cut in March Unlikely
Around mid-week, the Fed maintained the interest rates at the current level. This decision, coupled with Jerome Powell's indications that rate cuts are unlikely in the near future, particularly in March, triggered a negative response from investors.
During a press conference held last week, the Fed chair suggested that the U.S. central bank is unlikely to have enough confidence in falling inflation by the March meeting to consider a rate cut. Fed Chair Jerome Powell's comments at the meeting held last week suggested that a robust labor market is a positive indicator. Investors are now anticipating that the first rate cut from the central bank might not occur until May (read: Time for Value ETFs as March Rate Cut Unlikely?).
China Real Estate Crisis
China’s economy once again witnessed the relapsing of the real estate crisis. One of the most pressing concerns for investors last week was the court-ordered liquidation of China Evergrande Group, a property giant. This development sent ripples through China's fragile property market, causing uncertainty among investors (read: China ETFs: Value Play or Value Trap?).
Mixed Magnificent Seven Earnings
Meanwhile, tech industry leaders Amazon AMZN and Meta META delivered exceptional earnings reports, in contrast to the performance of Microsoft and Alphabet earlier in the week. Meta's stock surged by more than 20%, while Amazon also experienced an impressive 8% increase (read: What Awaits Alphabet-Heavy ETFs After Disappointing Q4 Earnings?).
Apple Inc. AAPL reported solid first-quarter fiscal 2024 results, wherein it beat estimates on both earnings and revenues. The iPhone manufacturer returned to quarterly sales growth after four straight quarters of declines. However, a decline in China sales weighed on the stock by a slight margin (read: Apple Returns to Revenue Growth: 5 ETFs in Focus).
Against this backdrop, below we highlight the best-performing ETFs of last week.
ETFs in Focus
KraneShares Global Carbon Offset Strategy ETF (KSET) - Up 19.8%
This ETF is active and does not track a benchmark. The KraneShares Global Carbon Offset Strategy ETF provides broad coverage of the voluntary carbon market by tracking carbon offset futures contracts. The expense ratio of the fund is 0.79%.
Amplify U.S. Alternative Harvest ETF (MJUS) - Up 16.9%
This ETF is active and does not track a benchmark. The AdvisorShares MSOS 2x Daily ETF seeks daily investment results that correspond to two times the return of AdvisorShares Pure US Cannabis ETF. The expense ratio of the fund is 0.75%.
Global X Uranium ETF (URA) - Up 6.5%
The underlying Solactive Global Uranium & Nuclear Components Total Return Index seeks to track the price movements in shares of companies that are active in the uranium industry.The expense ratio of the fund is 0.69%.
Global X MSCI China Health Care ETF (CHIH) - Up 5.4%
The underlying MSCI China Health Care 10/50 Index tracks the performance of companies in the healthcare sector in the MSCI China Index. The expense ratio of the fund is 0.65%.
iShares MSCI South Korea ETF (EWY) - Up 5.2%
The underlying MSCI Korea 25/50 Index consists of stocks traded primarily on the Stock Market Division of the Korea Exchange. The expense ratio of the fund is 0.58%.
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